The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation after a Tornado crew was forced to eject from their aircraft during landing at an RAF base.

The incident at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray on Thursday followed a routine outing of the jet plane.

The two crew were taken to hospital but are thought to have escaped serious injury.

It is the second incident involving a Tornado in recent weeks.

A crew, also from RAF Lossiemouth, ejected from their plane before it landed in the sea off Scotland's north west coast on January 27. Coastguard and lifeboat crews assisted in the rescue of the two men who were airlifted to hospital with minor injuries.

In July 2009 a pilot and navigator were killed when their Tornado crashed into a hillside in Argyll. The aircraft was a RAF Leuchars-based Tornado F3 on a routine flight.

RAF Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth coast, is home to three squadrons of Tornado GR4s.

The model is a two-seat attack aircraft, capable of delivering a variety of weapons and reaching a maximum altitude of 50,000ft.

An MoD spokeswoman said last night: "The crew is in hospital where they are undergoing routine medical checks."